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Marine conservation finally ‘ditches water-wings’: |
Marine Protected Areas to be established away from coast
Cumbria Wildlife Trust today welcome a ‘coming of age’ for UK marine protection - as Natural England starts consultation on an ambitious new suite of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The consultation launched today (27 November 2009) covers 10 new sites, to be conserved under European law, in English and Welsh waters, ‘Shell Flat and Lune Deep’ in Morecambe Bay. Cumbria Wildlife Trust enthusiastically supports the positioning of all the proposed MPA sites and congratulates the Government’s nature conservation agencies, including the Countryside Council for Wales and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, on the ambitious but much-needed proposals.
Under European Directives, the UK Government designates Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for selected habitats and species, both on land and at sea. Although the UK’s existing SPAs and SACs include 149 sites with marine components, they typically extend only a few hundred metres from the shore. In order to satisfy the European Directives, this new suite of truly marine sites is needed.
Joan Edwards, The Wildlife Trusts’ head of Living Seas, said: "This is an important moment. Until now, the UK’s Marine Protected Areas have clung to the coast like a non-swimmer clings to the side of the pool. Now the agencies have finally ditched their water-wings and offered protection where it’s needed. These new MPAs represent some of the finest examples in Europe of undersea reefs and sandbanks, as well as areas that are internationally important, due to the huge numbers of marine birds that gather there.
Joan continued: "The Wildlife Trusts are looking forward to working with the conservation agencies to secure designation of the new sites and ensure that the necessary protective measures are put in place. These sites will form an important part of the ecological network of MPAs the UK has committed to establish by 2012. In addition to the UK’s new and existing European MPAs, the network will include many nationally important sites, known as Marine Conservation Zones, which will be created under the new Marine and Coastal Access Act."
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